FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY - PICNICS

As usual I'm linking up with Shay for Favourite Things Friday.

Why don't you click on the link on my sidebar and see what others are writing about their favourite things.

PICNICs

There was a time when our children were small that we would pack up the car and toodle off for a picnic most weekends.

All we needed was a grassy spot in the shade of a tree somewhere in the country

or by the sea

where we could set the table with our special cloth,

put out plates and cups, thermos and soft drink, bread rolls and BBQ chicken

and

 r. e . l . a . x . x. x . .  . . . .

Now there's just the two of us ( Darby and Joan !!)

 we don't do it often enough but recently,

on the spur of the moment,

we grabbed all the necessary and sped off for a short visit to Bribie Island about an hour and a half 's drive from home.

It was mid-week and not a brilliant day but the sun came out

and so did the camera.

The wild life was co-operative

and it was oh so peaceful.

Ahhhhhhh..... we should do this more often.

Cheers.



GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh made a fleeting visit to Brisbane today as part of their present visit to Australia.

From the aeroplane they boarded a catamaran to cruise down the Brisbane River to a reception at Southbank Parklands where they met with many victims of the horrendous floods earlier this year.

The weather was perfect - fine and sunny and 27C.

Huge crowds lined the river all the way to catch a glimpse of them as they passed

 and once at Southbank the Queen continually halted her passage through the crowds to accept bouquets from the many little children who lined the route.

Looks like there won't be any more talk of a republic while she's on the throne.

Cheers.

All photos today from here.

JACARANDA TIME IN QUEENSLAND

Yes, it's that time of year again in my part of the world.

Jacaranda time !!

Looking back I see that I seem to post about these lovely trees every year

but they are so spectacularly beautiful I just can't let a year pass

without showing you some new photos of them.

Yesterday's weather was cloudy and did not do them justice.

They are dotted around the whole perimeter of this green park in central Ipswich.

The lovely St Mary's church is there in the background.

Part of their charm is the lovely purple carpet of bells spread on the ground beneath the trees.

Cheers.

BRISBANE CRAFT & QUILT SHOW- Part 3

Today is my final instalment in the Quilt show saga.

Today's quilts were all in a section under the category called "Essence of Australia".

So here we go:

Something familiar to begin with - a gum tree.

A close -up shows you the detail of the work.

Iconic animal - so cute with those little bright, beady  eyes!

The machine stitch embellishing is fantastic.

An Outback scene

(Sorry this one is a bit blurry)

Aussie flowers

Well, this one could be anywhere but it is still very clever.

drumroll ..........

And the final one.

An absolute masterpiece, I thought.

Spectacular !!

Hope you've enjoyed them all.

I did !

Cheers.

QUILT SHOW - Part 2

There was so much to see at the quilt show I'm afraid I'm going to continue to tell you about it in two more episodes so if it is not your cup of tea zoom off for a cuppa but please come back another day.


From the quilty quilts we moved on to the fabric pictures - don't know the technical name but I'm sure you get my drift.

The people who make these are artists and extremely talented ones at that.



This is a prize winning specimen - Rainforest

and this one was in a special section titled "Seven Deadly Sins".
If you click on the photo to enlarge it you will see each cake labelled with a sin.
I especially love the humour of the sin of sloth !

Then I came upon the entries in this challenge.

I'm so sorry I didn't take more photos of the entries in this as it was soooo interesting but I'll explain just one set to you.

This is the beginning photo that only the first quilter saw.

...and this is the group.

The first one was an almost perfect replica of the photo - amazing ( sorry I did not get much of it in the photo)

Below are the quilter's words to explain their quilt progression:

Quilt 2

Quilt 3

Quilt 4

Quilt 5

I'm so sorry I didn't take better photos of this as it was really interesting. Put it down to the fact that it was late in the day and I was on sensory overload from all the wonderful work by then .


The next photo is a quilt from another progression from the original bike which veered towards France and the Tour de France.

It was stunningly clever as these close-ups will show you..

 

OK that's your bit for today.

Tomorrow's final installment is called "Essence of Australia" and deserves a post all to itself.

Cheers.